Buying a house in Gozo (or Malta) - investment property

I would never buy a property here on Gozo for various reasons mainly they are overpriced, not built well and it's difficult to sell on, we have lived here for nearly six years and the same places are still up for sale.
There are a lot of b and b's on the island, where we used to live in
Gharb we had several within a few minutes walk.
As regards the tunnel hopefully it will never happen as it will ruin Gozo
as there's too many cars over here especially in the summer now.
I still prefer Gozo to Malta as it's not so busy and most of the island is
nice to live, Marsalforn and Xlendi are very touristy compared to the rest of the island.

Thanks for your reply - you've made some very helpful points! I read an old post on here stating that nearly half of properties in Malta are unoccupied.. im not sure if this is still the case but this seems crazy when so many are continuing to be built.. Every time i visit, i see the same newly built properties, still in shell form with for sale boards outside, You say that the same properties are still for sale on Gozo that were on the market 6 years ago.. Its unbelievable that the prices are still so high.. i wonder why the owners arent prepared to drop prices after such a long time to encourage sales!?

I don't think the owners need the money and the half started buildings are left like that for tax reasons!   If you do decide to purchase a property it's advisable to rent in the area you choose first to see whether you like living there especially in Gozo with all the holiday lets, good luck.

Maltese are very patient sellers, especially for 2nd properties which the ones in Gozo often are.  They have no reason to rush it, properties have been in their family for years and years so why rush it or drop the price?

Tunnel might come, prices will boom, etc, no-one is dropping prices now. If you believe the tunnel will come it's perhaps not a bad place for an investment property - but if you've been exposed to the competence levels of the government you might think twice, I expect the tunnel to be 5 to 10 years late.

Same here .. I doubt that the tunnel will be built in the next 10 years, if at all, and I hope it doesn't ...

We own property in Malta which we rent out, and used to be landlords in London before selling up and moving over here. We've done short lets (Air BnB) but mostly long lets here.

If you buy in Malta or Gozo, you will do well over the summer, but you cannot really guarantee much more than that - so you should base your sums on say 12 weeks max in the high season, plus the odd week here and there (at a lower rate).

I would focus on Malta rather than Gozo for the following reasons:

- Practicality: Every time there is an issue, you will need to head over to Gozo to sort it out - or pay for full time property management - and you can't keep an eye on them (I know a friend who had this exact issue).

- Higher throughput of people in Malta, more potential tenants.

- Rents are higher.

- More property choice.

Rental prices have gone up so much in the last few years that it kind of starts to make the short lets not as attractive, lots of hassle for not that much more profit.

HMO's ... I think this is catching on (rents going crazy), but I don't know the legalities here .. I doubt there is much regulation at the moment - there are rumours of some new legislation coming out to tighten up the rental market, so keep an eye out for that.

Bear in mind that there is a property boom here at the moment, be a bit cautious about buying at the peak - make sure you buy in a good area - lots of the people renting want to be walking distance to work / amenities, and avoid owning a car. Beware buying something that is still being built ... it might take years to be finished ...

PM me if you want to ask anything more specific, happy to share our experiences.